Mother's Day gift: A chance to be on 'The Price is Right.'

HAMPTON — Tonya Mosley of Hampton has been watching "The Price is Right" for as long as she can remember. She knows the games. She knows the strategies.

And now she also knows this: Playing along in front of your TV is nothing at all like actually playing the game for real. She and her daughter JoLanda found that out last month, when they flew to Los Angeles and taped their appearance on the game show's Mother's Day edition, which aired on Friday morning.

"All I can tell you is, if you've watched it on TV, it's nothing like that," Tonya Mosley said with a laugh. "Everything feels like it's happening so fast, and your brain just turns to mush. You've got to get hold of yourself."

The Mosleys won an early round of competition - winning a $1,250 diamond pendant, plus a $500 bonus for guessing the exact price. In their individual game, they were unable to find the correct price on his-and-hers Gucci sunglasses, and when they got their chance to spin The Big Wheel, they went over $1.00 and were not able to advance to the final showcase.

JoLanda said she has tried for at least three years to arrange this, but it had been impossible due to airline prices and the short notice regarding the taping dates of the Mother's Day shows. This year, however, she got the information in time to purchase reasonable plane tickets.

While in Los Angeles, they were able to stay with Tonya's sister, who lives close to the CBS Studios where the game show tapes its episodes. For the occasion they had sweatshirts printed identifying themselves as the tree (Tonya) and the apple that doesn't fall far from it (JoLanda).

"It would have been exciting enough if all we got to do was be in the audience," JoLanda Mosley said. "But when they called our names to 'come on down,' that was just incredible."

Both Mosleys said they were surprised at how many crew members were on stage (but off camera) aside from Carey. But the biggest surprise was the sudden appearance of the show's iconic Big Wheel.

"That wheel is magic, and it comes from a magic place," JoLanda Mosley said. "They drop down a partition that's shaped like a price tag, and then they move the partition away and the big wheel is right there. Where did it come from? I don't know. It's a magic wheel, and it comes from a magic place."

Though the wheel's spin was not kind to them, the Mosleys have no complaints.

"I would have been content if we didn't win anything," JoLanda Mosley said. "The best thing that we got out of it was just sharing that experience together. It was a bonding experience, and that's so much more valuable than things."